Giant Telescope On eBay

It's done with HOUSEHOLD rear coated mirrors!! It's either an april fools
joke that's ...

1. early for 2006

or

Very late for 2005.


--

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"Phil Wheeler" wrote in message
...
Tom Polakis wrote:
This one should be good for some laughs. The offer is "a telescope
over 100 feet (over 30 meters) in diameter ..." Starting price is
$450,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-TELESCOPE-... QcmdZViewItem


Hmm, 8 days and no bids?!?


Well, there's always that flurry of bids in the last hour :-)

All should read the text at eBay. It's priceless (pun intended).

Brian Tung wrote:
George wrote:

Does it come with a crane with which to point it? lol


No. You must purchase the accompanying 100-foot (minor axis)
EQ-mounted mirror, which is used to direct light from celestial objects
into the horizontally mounted scope. There, it is reflected by a
100-foot (also minor axis) secondary through an angle of 90 degrees
before being collected by the objective, which lies flat. Because of
this configuration, the telescope is only able to view half the sky.

There is also a 450-foot ladder (sold separately) to reach prime focus.
The 8-inch eyepiece is suspended from the tool shelf of the ladder.
(NOT A STEP. DO NOT STEP HERE OR HIGHER.) It's a bit harrowing from
there, but the views are worth it, I hear. I understand that with the
wide views afforded by the 175 mm Panoptic, you can just barely fit
Mare Imbrium into the field. That must be something!

So how more realistic is OWL www.eso.org/projects/owl/Gallery.html ?

d.

Looks like it could be useful. Even if it's a flop as a telescope, it
could come in handy for setting fire to an invading Roman naval fleet.

--
Joe Bergeron

http://www.joebergeron.com

At lest OWL is Designed as a true telescope and with the right front coated
mirrors. But then again, maybe they could save some money using just old
bathroom mirrors?

I've got the artest drawing of OWL as a Sat header for IC mail.


--

The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net
In Garden Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/ingarden
Blast Off Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/starlords




"Dan Mckenna" wrote in message
news:io0nf.1055$Ru.536@fed1read05...
Brian Tung wrote:
George wrote:

Does it come with a crane with which to point it? lol


No. You must purchase the accompanying 100-foot (minor axis)
EQ-mounted mirror, which is used to direct light from celestial objects
into the horizontally mounted scope. There, it is reflected by a
100-foot (also minor axis) secondary through an angle of 90 degrees
before being collected by the objective, which lies flat. Because of
this configuration, the telescope is only able to view half the sky.

There is also a 450-foot ladder (sold separately) to reach prime focus.
The 8-inch eyepiece is suspended from the tool shelf of the ladder.
(NOT A STEP. DO NOT STEP HERE OR HIGHER.) It's a bit harrowing from
there, but the views are worth it, I hear. I understand that with the
wide views afforded by the 175 mm Panoptic, you can just barely fit
Mare Imbrium into the field. That must be something!

So how more realistic is OWL www.eso.org/projects/owl/Gallery.html ?

d.

Notice the seller hasn't any feedback. Gonna have to check the feedback
on this one after "delivery and installation".

"Brian Tung" wrote in message
...
George wrote:
So how does he prevent this 100 foot diameter household-grade mirror
from
flexing in and out of shape with the slightest change in temperature or
wind conditions? And what about the inherent problems with atmospheric
seeing?

Flubber.

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html

lol!

George

"Joe Bergeron" wrote in message
ed...
Looks like it could be useful. Even if it's a flop as a telescope, it
could come in handy for setting fire to an invading Roman naval fleet.

--
Joe Bergeron

http://www.joebergeron.com

ROFLOL!

George

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 17:31:16 GMT, Phil Wheeler
wrote, in part:

All should read the text at eBay. It's priceless (pun intended).

*Would* it be possible to build a telescope that had the light-gathering
power of Palomar... and the resolution of a 4" telescope... cheaply?
And, if so, what would it be useful for?

John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html
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"Phil Wheeler" wrote in message
...
Tom Polakis wrote:
This one should be good for some laughs. The offer is "a telescope
over 100 feet (over 30 meters) in diameter ..." Starting price is
$450,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-TELESCOPE-... QcmdZViewItem



A minor detail from the text:

"You will need an available piece of land that is several hundred feet on
a side and permission to have 100+ foot high structures. This system uses
a long focal length (hundreds of feet) laid out horizontally along the
ground."

This joker has a real fetish for things 100 feet!!

Starlord wrote:
At lest OWL is Designed as a true telescope and with the right front coated
mirrors. But then again, maybe they could save some money using just old
bathroom mirrors?

I've got the artest drawing of OWL as a Sat header for IC mail.



3048 1.6 meter segments for the primary a 25.6 meter secondary made of
216 segmentents to start.

yes they are first surface mirrors and will need to be recoated every
few years.

What a world.

d.